The fifth-year pro is no media darling; in fact, his own father recently described him as “dull.” And it’s also true that Flacco has long bristled at the perception that he is somehow less than an “elite” quarterback for his failings on a larger stage.

But there can be little doubt that Flacco will graduate into the league of Brady, Manning, Brees and Rodgers if he leads the Ravens to the championship. Already he is the first quarterback since the NFL-AFL merger to qualify for the playoffs in each of his first five seasons, and he has more road playoff wins (six) than any other QB.

There is also the hard-to-ignore notion that the Ravens have evolved into something of an offensive dynamo after years of defensive reliance. In these playoffs alone, Flacco has completed 51 of 93 passes for 853 yards with eight touchdowns and no interceptions.

Colin Kaepernick

49ERS QUARTERBACK

Only two quarterbacks have entered a Super Bowl with fewer starts — Vince Ferragamo of the Rams (five) and Jeff Hostetler of the Giants (four). But Kaepernick is easily a more dangerous player than either of them, largely because of his ability to win games two ways in San Francisco’s read-option offense.

The second-year pro’s two postseason starts showed his immense potential, especially when he rushed for a QB-record 181 yards and two touchdowns in a divisional playoff win over Green Bay.

Kaepernick was great in a totally different manner in the NFC championship the next week against Atlanta. He carried the ball only two times but consistently made the proper reads to open the running game for Frank Gore and LaMichael James. Even better was Kaepernick’s laser passing — he was 16 of 21 for 233 yards — to help the Niners rally for the win.

Because of those possibilities, Kaepernick is the most intriguing player in this game.

Ray Lewis

RAVENS LINEBACKER

Were it not for the fact that brothers are coaching against each other in the Super Bowl, the game’s biggest story would be the swan song for Lewis, one of the NFL’s all-time great players, if not always one of its model citizens.

Lewis is retiring after a season in which he missed 10 games because of a torn right triceps. He is not the dominating presence he was in the early 2000s, when he was a perennial All-Pro and twice named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, but he does make the Ravens whole on that side of the ball. And his numbers have been great in the playoffs — 44 tackles, which includes 19 assists.

Lewis’ Super Bowl week was anything but routine as he fielded questions about his role in a double murder after the 2000 Super Bowl, and he addressed reports that linked him to performance-enhancing drugs. But at 37, Lewis is regarded as the ultimate leader in team sports, and likely will turn the distractions into a Ravens rallying point.

Vernon Davis / Michael Crabtree

49ERS TIGHT END / 49ERS RECEIVER

The question here — perhaps answered only by the Ravens defense when the game unfolds — is which dangerous pass-catching threat will Kaepernick look to when he seeks the big play?

Will it be Crabtree, the two-time Biletnikoff Award winner at Texas Tech who finally showed his college brilliance in his fourth NFL season? Crabtree ended the regular season with a career-best 85 catches for 1,105 yards and has added 15 receptions in the playoffs while finding a groove with Kaepernick.

Or will it be Davis, the athletic tight end who suddenly re-emerged in the NFC championship game? Davis totaled six receptions in the 49ers’ final six regular-season games, then had one catch in the win over the Packers. But with Crabtree drawing extra attention against Atlanta, Davis came up big with five catches for 106 yards and a score.

Anquan Boldin

RAVENS RECEIVER

The Ravens might not have a super-sophisticated passing offense like New England, Green Bay and New Orleans, but Flacco does have weapons at his disposal, including speedster Torrey Smith, elusive Ray Rice out of the backfield and underrated tight end Dennis Pitta.

But Baltimore’s go-to receiver remains the ultra-tough Boldin, who led the team with 65 receptions and 921 yards in the regular season and has added 16 catches for 276 yards in the playoffs. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Boldin isn’t afraid to cut across the field or challenge a safety deep. He’s also an aggressive downfield blocker.

Boldin also is among the few Ravens with Super Bowl experience. He had eight catches for 84 yards in Arizona’s loss to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLIII.

— From wire reports

FIVE

QUESTIONS

1. Which short RB stands tall?

Both teams have shown offensive balance, though each would love nothing more than to grind out yardage on the ground. That, however, might depend on how well each team’s diminutive featured back — 5-foot-8, 212-pound Ray Rice of Baltimore or 5-9, 217-pound Frank Gore of San Francisco — can find running room.

Each carried more than 250 times this season and averaged better than 4.3 yards per carry, so each is capable of carrying his team. And each team could also get a lift from a backup with fresh legs — Bernard Pierce of the Ravens and LaMichael James of the 49ers.

2. Can the defenses disrupt?

Based on how the two teams have played defense in the postseason, Baltimore looks to have an edge. The Ravens have forced eight turnovers and registered six sacks in three games — and there is the matter of holding New England scoreless in the second half in Foxborough.

The 49ers, on the other hand, forced four turnovers and had a mere two sacks in two games. Defensive end Aldon Smith was second in the NFL with 191/2 sacks in 2012, but he has gone five games without one. And Justin Smith is still recovering from a triceps injury.

3. Which safeties hit harder?

The better question is, who would want to find out? Both teams employ players on the back line of their defense who can pack a punch, as the Patriots’ Stevan Ridley learned when he felt the brunt of a hit by the Ravens’ Bernard Pollard in the AFC championship game.

Pollard, in fact, was the only one of the four starting safeties to not make the Pro Bowl. His teammate Ed Reed is a future Hall of Famer, and both 49ers safeties — Dashon Goldson and Ohio State product Donte Whitner — were Pro Bowl picks. And all could lay the lick that causes a key turnover today.

4. Shank you very much?

One thing 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh would like to avoid is seeing the game come down to his kicker. Field–goal attempts have been an unpredictable adventure for David Akers, who has missed an NFL-high 14 tries this season, including a 38-yarder in a tight game against Atlanta in the NFC title game.

Akers set a league record with 44 field goals a year ago, but he has been erratic all season. It began with a record-tying 63-yard kick in San Francisco’s opener, but as the misses piled up, Akers was prompted to close his Twitter account after receiving death threats.

5. Might we miss replacement refs?

Maybe. After an early season rife with errors by replacement officials, the NFL might have another referee controversy with the selection of Jerome Boger as head official for the game.

Historically, that means Boger, a seven-year NFL referee, scored highest among referees during the standard postgame evaluations — a notion that many observers find hard to comprehend. “The best officials are not working the best games,” Jim Daopolous, who worked 11 years as an on-field official and 12 years as a supervisor of officials, told The New York Times.